Tuesday, December 25, 2007 (Pat)

We woke up to a nice, warm, sunny day. Had our usual morning routine then decided to head into el centro area. We found out bus R2 would take us closest to that area so with map in hand we caught the bus. Nice and empty. We got off the bus, checked the map, and ended up outside the Mercado 28. This is a big complex of shops in a maze with a central eating area. We started walking thru the aisles with Mexican crafts on both sides. We were early – some of the shops weren’t even open yet. We checked out a small shop early on that had the similar obsidian stone Mayan statues like we saw the other day. The vendor started his sales pitch. I will give you a good deal – it has been slow - $120USD…$100USD…okay $60. We should have gone for it but we had just started looking and weren’t ready to buy yet. More wandering thru the maze. One friendly vendor practically pulled us into his jewelry store. At least it was air conditioned, as it was getting hot. He offered Ron a shot of tequila and we looked at his jewelry. I spied some round silver with turquoise/obsidian inlay in the pattern of a Mayan calendar on the outside and Aztec on the inside. 350 pesos. I’ll think about it. As we walked down the aisle way from the jewelry store at the end was a man with a Dremel tool that he used to etch glass. He had shot glasses, large and small beer mugs, and cappuccino glasses. He showed Ron how he etched his name on a glass fragment then created a design on a big beer mug. Pretty cool. I didn’t have enough pesos yet so we decided to wait and I’d get to an ATM. We were also getting thirsty and I was ready to sit down for a while. We ended up in the eating area and sat down at a corner restaurant. The smells started getting to us and we decided we might as well eat too. We had ‘brunch’ with two different egg dishes and Ron had a michelada, a ‘spicy’ beer. (Ron - it’s a beer with a healthy portion of lime juice and Worcestershire sauce served over ice. Much better than it sounds.) The young son about six to seven years old brought our drinks, silverware, and picked up the dishes. He did a good job!

We’re full – the next stop was a baño – wandered around looking for one and finally paid three pesos to use one in another restaurant. Well worth it! (Ron - Three pesos is a little over twenty-five cents.) Wandered around some more looking for an ATM. Finally asked and got directed to one across the street. So with money in hand we were now ready to buy. We decided on the earrings (Ron – actually Pat decided on the earrings), obsidian statue, and etched glasses for our Christmas purchases. Problem now was that we were so disoriented it took us a while to find the jewelry store for the earrings. Then it was easy to find the glass etcher. We selected the cappuccino glasses with the date and our names with a Cancun beach design. Very nice! Now we had to find our way to the shop we first saw the stone carvings at. Like a maze we had a few repeat passes then finally ended up where we started. We both liked the one statue that represented either love or prosperity – the vendor kept switching. Now it was $100USD! Should have gone on our impulse, buy the first time.

Shopping done we worked our way back to the main part of town and caught the bus. There lots of people out and about by now and the bus was packed. We wanted to find an internet place – all the ones in town were closed. We got off the bus about midway up the ‘7’ – near the Sunset Lagoon Resort. There was a park area along the mangrove waterway that had a nice walking path so we decided to check that out. Lots of Mexican families were enjoying the park. The young ones were playing in the water. Some young boys were climbing up into a tree, then jumping into the water. Ron took some video of them which made them jump some more, showing off. Others were fishing with line and bait only. We strolled along, Ron shooting video and finally came to the outlet into the sea. We walked up onto the high bridge and it sure was a stark contrast. Down below, the green park area and waterway – simple, peaceful, full of Mexican families enjoying a carefree day without big material things. In the distance was the long line of high-rise hotels lining the vertical part of the (‘7’) hotel zone. Across the bridge was a large tourist attraction area with the big, expensive tourist toys – yachts, helicopter, big fishing boats, big fancy resorts/hotels, two big pirate ships as a tourist activity. More photos, then off to the internet place. By now we were getting hungry again so we stopped at the deli we had seen before and got a couple of chicken sandwiches to go. A nice walk back to the hotel and we cooled off, had our sandwiches and finished off Christmas day in the Mexican/Caribbean style.